July Reads in Review

The reads this month were all England with a little Kale thrown in for good measure.  Thanks to Book Depository.com, I was able to purchase all the British books I've been coveting for months, with no crazy shipping charges AND at a reduced rate.  This site is due to be quite dangerous.

"Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" by Jenny Colgan: Not my favorite by her, but a so-so Jenny Colgan book is much better than some others I've read.  

"Little Beach Street Bakery" & "Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery" by Jenny Colgan: In just about 48 hours I had finished these both.  I loved them!  In fact there one of the reasons I'm pushing for a trip to Cornwall next year.  As follow-ups to these 2 standouts, I purchased the children's books based on Neil the Puffin (a major character in the story) - "Polly and the Puffin" & "Polly and the Puffin: The Stormy Day." So cute!  And also, I'm pretty much determined to scope out some puffins on my future Cornwall trip...

"Bonjour Kale" by Kristen Beddard: I'm not particularly fond of Kale.  The real reason I purchased this story of a woman who starts a project to bring Kale to France after she moves there, is that I was curious how someone would A) write a book completely about Kale in France and B) make money and a career focused solely on Kale.  She somehow managed to do both which is pretty inspiring.

"A Cottage by the Sea" by Carole Matthews: My least favorite this month.  The book was about 150 pages too long and was much too melo-dramatic for my liking.

"The Best Thing That Never Happened to Me" by Laura Tait & Jimmy Rice: This was the story of 2 people's friendship throughout the years told from each of their point of views.  Tait wrote the woman's POV and Rice wrote the man's.  So clever!  And aside from getting  bit lost in the timeline, I loved this story!

" The Cosy Teashop at the Castle" by Caroline Roberts: I liked the idea of this book more than I actually liked this book.  The setting and characters were lovely, and even the story was sweet but the writing wasn't fabulous.